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34 years ago today, Big Fitz went down with all hands in Lake Superior. The tragedy inspired what is perhaps the greatest folk song of all time. The gales of November will forever be remembered......

The ship wreck museum at White Point is small but very informative

The Valley Camp in Sault Ste. Marie also has an Edmund Fitzgerald exhibit and memorial with artifacts including two lifeboats that were ripped fro mthe boat as it went down. Well worth the visit. You get to get on board an old lake boat, check out the artifacts and watch as active vessel pass by.

http://www.thevalleycamp.com/

34 years later, we still remember...

She was there at the dock when the lines cast off and the Fitz got underway.
The sun shone down as the wake trailed out on that cold November day.
When she wrapped her clouqe over ship and crew,when the winds began to roar.
Every man aboard tighten down their souls, far from the michigan shore.

McSorley too, telephoned the crew when the storm was setting in.
Better hold on tight through this day and night, for straight ly killer winds.
forty four years I have met these storms when nor-easter gales have blown
But oh These mountains on Superior are the worst I've ever Known.

Who hears a prayer when the wind strikes down and the seas boil into foam.
When the waves cap off and are blown away and your miles away from home.
Who hears a cry when the north wind roars and the crew are pitched to the rail.
As the great ship rolls and the church bell tolls for those lost in the gale.

When he first saw her, we'll never know, on the deckwatch or the bridge.
He must have known when the Fitz would groan and the bow began to pitch.
When she came for the crew and McSorley too as the Fitz rose up no more,
Oh lady of the storm you won this year, but I bested you for forty Four.

S.S. EDMUND FITZGERALD. JUNE 8, 1958 - NOVEMBER 10, 1975
29 LOST ON LAKE SUPERIOR

As a Great Lakes Sailor Myself, The hair on the back of my neck stands up when i hear the song. May the Fitz and the Men who sailed her never be forgotten.

I agree with you 100% tops the valley camp is worth going aboard and seeing the life boats and other Fitz articfacts, what ship are you on GT Railfan?

Don Simon wrote:The ship wreck museum at White Point is small but very informative

In the late 1970's we spent a country ton of time in the U.P. We would stop at that museum on White Fish Point, It was pretty neat.

Ive been to valley camp and those lifeboats are a real treat to see

ring that bell 29 times

Suprised none of our boat nerds mentioned it, but today November 10, 2010 is the 35th anniversary of the most infamous sinking on the Great Lakes, the wreck of the ore hauler "Edmund Fitzgerald".

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-11-09/us/e ... p?_s=PM:US

http://www.myspace.com/music/gordon-lig ... ald-296924

http://www.ssefo.com/

God Bless these men and their families.

Also a few Railroad Related Notes. It picked up her final load from the Burlington Northern Rwy Dock #1 to transport to Zug Island.

We talked about it a lot yesterday morning, but all in the shout box, and not in a thread.

41 years ago the "Big Fitz" along with her 29 crew members sank into the "Ice Water Mansion" that is Lake Superior. A moment of silence should be taken for those lost in what is probably the most mysterious shipwreck on the Lakes.

Amen.

One or two of the guys were cadets from Great lakes Maritime Academy right here in Traverse City.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgI8bta-7aw

"Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
in the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams;
the islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below Lake Ontario
takes in what Lake Erie can send her,
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
with the Gales of November remembered"

GT Railfan wrote:She was there at the dock when the lines cast off and the Fitz got underway.
The sun shone down as the wake trailed out on that cold November day.
When she wrapped her clouqe over ship and crew,when the winds began to roar.
Every man aboard tighten down their souls, far from the michigan shore.

McSorley too, telephoned the crew when the storm was setting in.
Better hold on tight through this day and night, for straight ly killer winds.
forty four years I have met these storms when nor-easter gales have blown
But oh These mountains on Superior are the worst I've ever Known.

Who hears a prayer when the wind strikes down and the seas boil into foam.
When the waves cap off and are blown away and your miles away from home.
Who hears a cry when the north wind roars and the crew are pitched to the rail.
As the great ship rolls and the church bell tolls for those lost in the gale.

When he first saw her, we'll never know, on the deckwatch or the bridge.
He must have known when the Fitz would groan and the bow began to pitch.
When she came for the crew and McSorley too as the Fitz rose up no more,
Oh lady of the storm you won this year, but I bested you for forty Four.

I though I was the only one who listen to Dan Hall?!?!

This is a great Facebook site for boat nerds. Some good video up right now on Lake Superior conditions!

https://www.facebook.com/WE4879/

Actual audio recording of radio traffic between Coast Guard and vessels near the Fitz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK3dZ0Y ... e=youtu.be